Situation: Normal: All Screwed Up
by fringeperson
Summary: Kagome's brain made a snap decision without consulting the rest of her. It just turned out to be the best decision she ever made, maybe... SessxKag, adult bits but not explicit, children. oneshot, complete, don't own.


When she made it out of the well, Kagome ran for the street, hailed a taxi, and was at the nearest sperm bank within ten minutes. It was a half-hour walk, and frankly, she didn't want to risk it.

"What's the shelf life for sperm?" she asked quickly at the counter.

"In our freezers, it's indefinite provided the sample is placed there within half an hour of harvesting," answered the rather pretty girl at the front desk.

Kagome grinned in triumph and brought out her little jam jar with its red and white lid. "I got this from my boyfriend almost fifteen minutes ago. He's sexy as hell but not 'daddy' material, if we even survived high school together, and I'm sure as hell not ready to be a mother yet, so could I buy some shelf-space to keep it on ice until I _am_ ready?" she asked. Okay, she was lying through her teeth, especially about the boyfriend part, but the secretary didn't need to know that! Just like she didn't need to know how she'd gotten it.

Now _that_ was a weird story. One she wasn't at all sure how she really felt about.

The secretary laughed and agreed, bringing out the paperwork for Kagome to fill in.

"It's not _usual_," the secretary said, even as she took the beaker. "But not so rare that we don't have a standard procedure for it. Now, I'm going to divide this up into several smaller samples in case you either want a) more than one baby, or b) feel like selling the extra. Okay?"

Kagome nodded, even though she knew there was _no way in hell_ she'd ever be selling it.

"Now, what names do I write on the labels?"

"I'm Higurashi Kagome, and his name is Sesshoumaru. _Just_ Sesshoumaru."

The secretary nodded and, names on a sticky note attached to the jam jar, disappeared into another room. "You'll be sent a bill, yearly, until you decide to use it," she said when she came back, cleaned out jam jar in one hand, first bill in the other.

Kagome nodded in appreciation and handed over the completed paperwork, accepted the jar back, and paid the bill, then started walking back to the shrine. She kind of wanted the time to think about what she had just done, and what she had seen just before that.

~oOo~

Kagome blinked in stunned shock. That was _not_ natural. Okay, actually, it was probably _very_ natural. About as _natural_ as anything could ever possibly get. But there was no way it was _normal_ for, of all people, _Sesshoumaru_ to be resting against the Bone Eater's Well, with his armour off, with his kimono open, his boots and hakama discarded, and his fluffy thing pooled behind his back as he tilted his head back over the edge of the well, his breath coming in heavy pants even as his only hand doing things to a particular organ that Kagome generally and resolutely ignored the existence of among all the guys she knew.

She'd only previously been exposed to the pre-pubescent versions of her little brother and Shippo after all, when bathing. That... engorged thing... was a completely different matter. Even in health class, where they were actually educated about ... sex... she'd always blushed and looked away when pictures were presented at the front of the class. Even the anatomical cross-sections. Since it turned out that she was a miko, being sex-shy wasn't exactly a bad thing for her. Miko like her were, after all, supposed to be virginal until the day they died.

Sesshoumaru groaned, loud, low, and effectively brought Kagome's attention back from where she had managed to distract herself to even though her eyes had remained fixed on the nude demon before her.

Kagome swallowed, and her eyes raked up, then down, then up again, and finally Kagome settled for watching the rippling stomach muscles. The chest with the laboured breathing was out. The face, familiar, covered in sweat, and with eyes closed in private rapture, was out. The legs were out because they just led her eye up to ... which she _really_ didn't want to be seeing.

It had shocked her beyond everything when, between his laboured heaves of air, he had breathed out _her name_. She had been fairly sure, until that point, that he didn't even _know_ it! But there he was... _masturbating_ to _her_. It had to be one for the history books... if the history books had covered things like that. Suddenly Kagome was _very_ glad that they didn't, even as her bag slid off her shoulder in her shock.

The gentle _tink_ sound of an empty jam jar falling out of the top of the bag snapped her out of it. Not him, thankfully. She could only imagine that he would kill her for finding him like this. But...

The jam jar had been emptied earlier in the week, and Kagome knew how useful jam jars could be, so she'd washed it as thoroughly as she could, even dropping it into boiling water a couple of times before fishing it out again and getting on with making the ramen.

Kagome's seriously shorted-out brain decided to start trying to work then, before it was really properly ready to. It said: "sterile jar + attractive male pulling one off + required terminal virginity + wonders of modern medicine + desire to be a real mother one day = _catch some when he comes then run for the nearest sperm bank!_"

Which she had done, once she'd checked both his aura to make sure it really _was_ him, and checked the surrounding area for any other auras. Like hell she wanted anybody to know about this!

It was a damn good thing for her that he'd been practically boneless after his climax and still had his eyes shut, meaning she got away unscathed. Been even better that he'd been so preoccupied by what he was doing that he didn't notice Kagome getting close enough to hold the jar roughly where it needed to be to catch his load.

She'd proceeded to breathe deeply a few times herself once she'd landed in her own time. Made sure her legs would still hold her up, and _then_ she'd run like the dogs of hell were on her heels (they might have been, she wasn't going to turn and look) through the courtyard and down the shrine steps.

~oOo~

"_So you do remember me. It's good to see you too, little brother."_

"_You never told me you had a brother!"_

"Half_-brother!"_

"_Filthy half-breed."_

"_You tried to kill me!"_

"_Leave the girl out of this Sesshoumaru!"_

"_What are you?"_

Kagome's eyes snapped open and she slowly sat up in bed. Well, that dream wasn't as frightfully weird as it could have been. Just racing through some of her very first encounter with Sesshoumaru. It was almost like a series of contradictions. She could have sworn Sesshoumaru looked at InuYasha tenderly when he called InuYasha 'little brother'. Actually, she was pretty sure he _had_ been. He didn't actually start being cold to InuYasha until after Kagome yelled at him for not telling her about him having a brother, and then InuYasha yelling back that they were only _half_ brothers.

Kagome wondered if a lot of the animosity between them didn't come entirely from InuYasha, and then Sesshoumaru just reacted badly to it because he was the older sibling. Kami knew, Kagome always got annoyed with Souta whenever he showed bad manners or when she found out that he hadn't told his friends that he actually _had a sister_.

That Sesshoumaru had wanted the Tetsusaiga just kind of aggravated things.

"Okay, so Sesshoumaru is the cooler brother," she said with a sigh. "No wonder InuYasha and Souta get along so well," she grumbled as she got out of bed.

Waking up to a minor epiphany is always an _interesting_ way to start the day.

~oOo~

Five years to the day since Kagome had fallen down the well (she knew, because it was her birthday and she wanted to be _home_ with her _family_ for the occasion) the final piece of the jewel was recovered at long last. Sesshoumaru had joined up with them a couple of years ago, saying that Rin needed an older female influence and that, as he was interested in ending Naraku (who showed up around them with some regularity), it was logical for them to travel together.

Kagome had been aware of the way his eyes raked over her form though. She'd started wearing trousers and less fitted shirts not long after Sesshoumaru joined them. That it was easier for her to run, jump, and fight in these clothes was an unexpected but very welcome bonus.

Sesshoumaru had been a positive influence on Shippo, and had quietly insisted, whenever they came across a more experienced priestess, that Kagome get a few lessons on how to better use her powers. Travelling with a monk wasn't really teaching her much after all.

"Ah, job done!" Kagome sighed happily as she held the completed jewel in her hand.

"Yeah, now I can wish to be a full demon!" InuYasha said, a smirk on his face.

Kagome closed her hand over the jewel. "And what ever gave you the impression that I'd be handing it over to you?" she asked. "Or have you forgotten how you got those beads around your neck in the first place?"

"What? Give it here wench!" InuYasha yelled, making a lunge for her.

"Sit boy!" Kagome snapped, drawing the jewel closer to her chest. Still holding it tight, she knelt down to look Shippo in the eye. "I'm going home Shippo," she said quietly. "For good this time. I love you, alright?"

Shippo nodded sadly. Kagome had talked to him quietly during the nights when he couldn't sleep. He'd known that this was coming. It was why he'd really started spending more time with Sesshoumaru and emulating him. InuYasha, according to Kagome, was _not_ a good role model for him to have. Sesshoumaru had dealt with this the same way he dealt with Rin's following him – with minimal words.

"And take care of Rin for me, ne?" she asked.

Shippo nodded again, and Kagome gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Rin?" Kagome called over. When the little girl reached her, Kagome wrapped the little girl up in a hug. "I'm going to miss you Rin," she said. "But you're a big girl now, so I'm sure you'll be just fine."

Rin sniffled a little, but agreed as she wrapped her arms around Kagome. "I'll miss you too Kagome-nee-san."

When Kagome let go of Rin she stood up and looked at Sango and Miroku. "Time for us to move on with our lives," she said firmly, though her eyes brimmed with tears. "Please cover and seal the well behind me?"

Miroku nodded, and though his eyes were sad there was a smile on his face as he rested a hand on Sango's shoulder.

Sango sniffled, but nodded as well.

"Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome said, turning to the imposing demon at last.

"Kagome," he answered, looking down at her.

"I give you the power I have over InuYasha's subjugation beads," she said formally, holding out her hand – not the one with the Shikon in it – palm up. A spark of pink power blossomed there, and rose, and drifted towards Sesshoumaru. "Please accept it," she said softly. "Because I cannot give you anything else."

Sesshoumaru's golden eyes snapped to her face, and he raised his right hand (Kagome had learned how to re-grow it from one of those priestesses she'd studied with) and closed it around the spark.

"Kagome," Sesshoumaru said softly, stepping closer to her.

Kagome smiled a little. "I'm a priestess, Sesshoumaru-sama," she pointed out. "We're not allowed to fall in love."

Sesshoumaru took another step closer, and gently placed one hand over her eyes. Then he kissed her lips softly. "You always knew?" he asked softly when he drew back.

"That's why I was always formal with you Sesshoumaru-sama," Kagome answered with a small smile. "Thank you for being understanding," she said, then stepped back and bowed to him.

"Oi wench!"

"Sit," Sesshoumaru growled.

Kagome giggled. It seemed that Sesshoumaru wasn't going to have any problems handling InuYasha.

~oOo~

A twenty-five year old woman walked into the clinic. She had an appointment to be artificially inseminated that day, finally using some of the sample she had left there nearly ten years ago. She'd finished university two years ago and had been working for those two years as a very well-paid government flunky.

She had very few personal expenses, which helped her perspective of being well-paid. She still lived at the shrine with her mother, grandfather, and little brother. She contributed when the bills came around of course, but her years spent travelling in the feudal era had taught her to not need very much in the way of luxuries.

"Miss Higurashi?" the receptionist called.

Kagome stood.

"The doctor will see you now."

~oOo~

Everything had gone fairly smoothly as pregnancies went, which surprised Kagome a fair bit. Any normal pregnancy had a good chance of being pure hell after all, and her pregnancy was _not_ normal. Using frozen demon-dog sperm was highly unusual after all, not that anybody but her knew that's what it was.

So after nine months of slowly getting fatter until she couldn't reach her keyboard at work any more and _had_ to go on maternity leave, and then a C-section, Kagome now held the reason she'd had cravings for blowfish sushi, steak, and licorice. Her beautiful baby boy.

He had his father's beautiful golden eyes and pale skin, and beneath the glamour that Kagome had put in place as soon as she had the strength to, he had a pair of floppy dog ears as well, just like his father's were in his true form, and white as snow. Not at all like his uncle's cute little ears or the elf-like points that Sesshoumaru wore in his more human appearance.

Her baby had a crescent moon birthmark over his navel in dark, _dark_ red, echoed by single stripes near each little wrist and ankle. Those were hidden beneath the glamour as well. He was also blessed with hair as beautiful as his father's. White and silky and, if Kagome had any say about it, would be grown just as long – underneath a glamour that made it appear as black as hers.

Another thing her baby _definitely_ took after his father in was the claws. His tiny little fingernails were already sharp, and judging from how her pee had burned a few times while she was still pregnant, Kagome would bet she was going to have to keep an eye out for acid claws.

"What are you going to call him dear?" Kagome's mother asked. "He's a very beautiful child."

Kagome smiled up at her mother. "I thought maybe Kei at first," she said. "But it didn't seem quite right somehow. Now that I'm holding him though, I know just the perfect name for him. I'm going to call him Yuudai."

"Higurashi Yuudai," her mother said, smiling in approval before giving Kagome a kiss and leaving the new mother alone with the baby.

"My little Yuudai," Kagome cooed, holding her baby boy to her chest, only just out of reach of where the Shikon hung on a very short necklace that she never took off. "What would Sesshoumaru say to see you now?" she wondered quietly. "I sometimes wonder if he's still around in this time," she confided in a whisper, even as she helped him latch on to her breast for his first meal. "Or Shippo. It would be nice to see them again. But I've got you now my Yuudai, and soon I'll give you a little brother or sister, or maybe even both, if Sesshoumaru wasn't so male that he would _only_ give sons that is."

~oOo~

"Yuudai!" Kagome called into the yard. "Kiyomi! Takashi! Come in now, it's time for dinner!"

"Yes mother!" the three children called back, each one jumping down from where they had climbed up to in the goshinboku and running up to her.

Kagome smiled at her children. Here at the shrine, in the evenings when nobody came, she let her children play without the glamours she was slowly teaching them to keep up for themselves. She really did have the most adorable children, and (luckily for her) they all liked it when she rubbed their floppy ears. Not _one_ of them had ears like InuYasha. All three had floppy ears, though Kiyomi was the only one who ever tried to get out of hiding them – she tried to pass them off as pigtails instead.

All three had their father's white hair under the glamour of having hair like their mother, and all three had a crescent moon somewhere on their person, with one stripe around each of their ankles and wrists in the same colour. Kiyomi's moon was in the middle of her lower back, and Takashi's was over his sternum. All of them had their father's eyes too. And both her boys had Sesshoumaru's poison claws. Kiyomi, somehow, had inherited Kagome's miko powers instead of poison, though she still had the claws. Kagome didn't bother questioning it, just like she didn't question why her children's _milk teeth_ were all _sharp_, or how it came to be that they all had their 'human night' on the night of the full moon, or why, for every single child, she'd had the same cravings and the same inability to abide even the smell of chocolate.

All of her little ones were allergic to chocolate, actually, and Kagome put that down to the same intolerance that dogs had for the stuff. Still, it meant that her little stash of the stuff was safe from curious children.

"Mother," Takashi said, tugging on her kimono sleeve to get her attention.

"Yes Takashi?" Kagome asked, looking down at him with a smile. She would have bent down to look him in the eye, but she was currently using the fourth and final 'dose' of Sesshoumaru sperm that had been on the shelf, and was carrying twins this time.

"Are we ever going to meet Father?" the little boy asked. He was such a precocious two-year-old, but that might just have been because of his half demon heritage.

Kagome's smile softened. "I don't know Takashi," she admitted. "Maybe, someday."

"One of the kids at school said that, if we've never seen Father, how do we know we all have the same one," Yuudai said softly from behind her.

"Oh," Kagome said, reaching out for her six-year-old. She spaced them carefully, giving herself a good amount of time to work between maternity leaves while her mother took care of them during the day. "Come here all three of you," she said, spotting Kiyomi lingering by the door as well. Carefully, Kagome _was_ in her ninth month right now after all, and _quite_ large, she lowered herself to kneel on the floor and look her children all in their beautiful golden eyes.

"It was a stupid thing for Taro-baka to say," Kiyomi said, a petulant frown on her face. "No one else has gold eyes and white hair and floppy ears like us!"

Kagome smiled at her little girl. "But because of the magic I use so that no one sees your beautiful golden eyes, or your lovely white hair, or your cute floppy ears, then other people can't tell as easily that you all have the same father, even if you all have his soft pale skin," she started, drawing all her children around her in a hug.

For extra comfort, they all started stroking her belly, feeling the twins inside kicking.

"When you grow a bit older, and people ask, you can tell them that you had a paternity test done, and you all have the same father. Until then, you're just going to have to tell Taro-chan that I promised, you all have the same father, and I don't tell lies. How does that sound?" she offered her children.

They all nodded.

"It would still be better if Father was here," Yuudai said quietly.

"Am I not enough?" Kagome asked, worried.

"You are!" Yuudai answered quickly. "You're all we've ever needed!" he said, hugging her shoulders tightly. "You're the best mother ever! It's just... if we had Father too, then the kids at school wouldn't say those things, and he could play with us when Grandma and Uncle Souta and Great-Grandfather are too busy, and when you're too round."

Kagome sighed. "Alright," she said. "When the twins are big enough, I'll take a week off work and leave you with Grandma, and see if I can't track down your father. Does that sound alright? I can't make any promises though," Kagome explained. "I haven't seen Sesshoumaru for more than ten years after all, and it will be even longer by the time I can leave these two with Grandma."

"Thank you Mother!" the three children cried happily, all of them happily hugging her at once.

Their bed time stories were about Kagome's trips through the well, of her quest, of the friends she had made, of the foes that had been defeated... of their father. They knew the whole truth.

"Now, help your fat mother off the floor," Kagome said with a smile. "We still have to eat dinner!"

~oOo~

Kagome didn't particularly want to be away from her children for a week, especially not the twins, Akihiko and Hideaki. They were only two after all, and while they, like all of their siblings before them, had asked her about their father upon reaching this age, Kagome was still reluctant to leave them behind.

Her identical twin boys were like all her other children – in possession of floppy ears, bright white hair, pale skin, poisonous claws like the other two boys, golden eyes, and single stripes at wrists and ankles in the same colour as their crescent moon birthmarks.

Those birthmarks were actually the easiest way to tell the two apart. Akihiko's was on the left side of his neck, while Hideaki's was on the right – just below where their glamoured human ears were. As their mother, she could of course tell them apart without the birthmarks, but it helped their grandma, great-grandfather and uncle, who didn't spend quite as much time with them as Kagome and the other three children did.

"Now, you all be good," Kagome instructed them, kissing each of them as she hugged them tight. "I'll be back in a week at most, no matter what, I promise," she said. She'd spent a lot of time during her pregnancy with the twins regaining her skill in archery, the only 'miko skill' she'd let go in the modern times. There was _no way_ she was going to let herself become demon fodder just because she'd gone back. She had children to come back to after all.

For this trip into the past, Kagome was wearing the same jeans and loose shirt that she had been wearing the last time she had seen Sesshoumaru. She hoped, if she ever came near enough for him to see her (and she had little doubt that he would see her before she saw him), he would approach her.

"We'll be good Mother," Yuudai promised solemnly. "Please bring Father back with you."

Kagome smiled, just a little sadly, and gave her oldest child another kiss before she slid off the lid of the well and hopped down.

As it always had before, the blue glow of time travel surrounded her, and when she landed she knew that she was in the past. Apart from anything else, the lid had been _off_ when she jumped down, with light streaming in. Here, now, the well was capped, just as she had asked for it to be.

In the darkness, Kagome selected an arrow, knocked it, drew back the string and, pointing straight up, fired. A nice, solid _thunk_ was her answer, as the arrow lifted the lid off _just_ enough, and _just _off-centre enough, for the lid to fall off to one side.

Now that light was available, Kagome picked up the grappling hook she had brought with her and swung it up to latch onto one side. She'd come prepared for there to be no vines for her to climb up this time, and the knotted rope attached to the grappling hook really was much better for climbing up.

By the time she reached the top, Kagome was smiling. Having five kids had _certainly_ kept her in shape. Her smile spread when, as she was coiling the rope to put back in her bag, she saw people coming running. People who, even if she hadn't been able to recognise them for themselves (it _had_ been over a decade after all), their _weapons_ certainly gave them away.

"Miroku! Sango!" Kagome called, waving. "Long time, no see!"

They froze where they stood for a moment, and then the hiraikotsu and the shakujo were dropped before they were running again, even faster.

Sango was yelling Kagome's name and looked to be crying as she got closer.

Kagome held out her arms and braced her legs to catch the slightly older woman as she was barrelled into.

"What are you doing back here Kagome?" Sango asked, even as she sniffled.

Kagome smiled. "I wanted to see if you had caved and given Miroku all those children he wanted," she teased through her own tears. She hadn't realised until now just how _much_ she had missed her friends. Over Sango's shoulder, Kagome looked at Miroku. He certainly did look older now, _much_ more able to pull of the 'monk' look. "What were you two doing running out here all of a sudden anyway?" she asked.

"I put some alarms on the cover in case anything tried to open it and get through to you. The first touch of anything more substantial than a regular bug, and whoever is on duty comes running," Miroku answered.

"Come on Sango," Kagome said gently. "Let's go back to the village. I want to see _everybody_ again."

"Everybody?" Miroku asked hesitantly.

Kagome turned to him, serious. "Did something happen?" she asked, concerned.

Miroku shrugged helplessly. "Rin died in childbirth a couple of years ago," he admitted. "Sesshoumaru-sama actually cried, since he could not bring his ward back again. Her husband, one of the men in the village, was pretty inconsolable as well. Sango and I have been raising Rin's child. Because Rin died here, Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't visit very often. Which in turn means that InuYasha is hardly ever here either, since Sesshoumaru won't subject us to InuYasha without us having someone around who can subjugate him the way you did, and now he can," Miroku explained.

"Shippo's still here though," Sango said with a smile. "He's the light of the village, always happy to play with and care for the children while their parents work in the fields."

"Kagome!" Shippo yelled happily when they came in sight of the village.

Kagome, smiling, cringed a little. It was entirely possible that Sesshoumaru had heard that, wherever he was. Maybe even Koga too. That second was _not_ as welcome as the first.

Soon enough, Kagome found herself being swept up in the arms of a handsome young fox.

"Shippo!" Kagome laughed happily as he spun her around. "I've missed you," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug, even if they were still moving. "And you grew!"

Shippo laughed as he set Kagome back on her feet. "I did," he agreed. Shippo looked like a teenager now, whereas he'd still been a cute little fox kit when she'd left. "Demons age differently to humans," Shippo said with a toothy grin.

Kagome just nodded. So far, her children were ageing normally for humans, but she figured that once they got into their late teens that would slow right down, just like it had for InuYasha. For that matter, once the Shikon was whole again, Kagome's own ageing had slowed down a fair bit, though it was hard to judge, since she was in that part of life where exact age was hard to pin-point anyway.

"So introduce me to all these children!" Kagome enthused with a smile, looking at all kids who had followed Shippo when he'd grabbed her up. She fully intended to spend her first day back in the Sengoku Jidai catching up with her friends and trading gossip. If some of that gossip happened to be where Sesshoumaru was last seen, well then so much the better.

~oOo~

Kagome set out the next morning, riding Kirara who was glad to really stretch her legs again and _properly_ take to the sky (where there was no danger of little kids asking to have a turn next, only to fall off). They were headed for Mt Fuji.

"There he is!" Kagome said, pointing down and just off the course that Kirara was flying.

Obligingly, Kirara began her descent. Even more obligingly, Sesshoumaru appeared to have stopped walking when Kagome called out to the fire cat, and was looking up at them, his golden eyes wide.

"Kagome," he said, his voice shocked and soft as she hopped off Kirara's back. "This Sesshoumaru thought you were not coming back. Did something happen?"

Kagome bit her lip, then took a few steps towards him. "What does your nose tell you about me Sesshoumaru?" she asked.

"That you are still the virgin you said you had to be," he said with a smile. "This Sesshoumaru is glad you did not say such a thing only to turn him away."

Kagome smiled a little. "What else can you smell Sesshoumaru?" she asked.

"You are older, of course," he allowed. "You wash with something that smells of vanilla and sugar, which is _very_ nice by the way," he complimented. "And there is something else, but I cannot tell what, a lingering scent that has been covered by the fox child and the fire cat. I assume the boy was enthusiastic in greeting you?"

"He was," Kagome agreed. "Can you smell children on me?" she asked.

"Yes," he allowed. "Why?"

Kagome breathed deeply. "Sesshoumaru, would you come through the well for me?" she asked quietly. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to, of course, but there's... well..." Kagome wondered how the heck she was supposed to tell him that _their children_ wanted to meet their father.

"Of course Kagome," he answered. "To be with you, anything. Rin is gone, nothing ties me to this world any more. Nothing but the hope of surviving the five hundred years between this time and yours so that I could see you again."

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. "The world has changed a lot between now and my time," she said. "Humans are everywhere, there are machines in even more places that make the air smell bad, but I have a ward line around the shrine so that the air is always fresh. Not as many people wear kimono like yours, except for festivals, and no one carries swords," she cautioned.

Sesshoumaru smiled a little. "If no one carries swords, then I shall not need mine there," he said.

Kagome smiled. "We have a place in the shrine where Grandpa keeps all the swords that have come to the shrine over the years. You can put them there if you like. I wouldn't dream of asking you to leave them behind."

"You will need to pass on the control of my little brother's beads again," Sesshoumaru pointed out.

"Been having fun with those?" she asked.

Sesshoumaru nodded, just a little. "You may go," he told the fire cat. "This Sesshoumaru will bring Kagome."

Kirara nodded and took to the air.

Sesshoumaru wrapped his arms around Kagome and drew his ki-cloud beneath their feet, lifting them off the ground.

"Sesshoumaru," Kagome said as they flew together back to the village on Sesshoumaru's cloud. "I want to know from you, do you really hate _all_ half-demons, or just your brother because he's always been so uncouth?"

Sesshoumaru chuckled. "I do not even hate InuYasha," he admitted. "But like all older siblings, it is my prerogative to beat him up as I see fit. No, my Kagome, I do not hate half-demons."

Kagome nodded, but said nothing more.

Soon they reached the well, and without returning to the village to say goodbye again, they dropped straight in.

~oOo~

"I'm back!" Kagome called up the well, and then Sesshoumaru launched them both out of it again, landing them neatly on the ground outside. "And I've brought Sesshoumaru!"

"YAY!"

Sesshoumaru blinked in surprise at the five, definitely young, voice he heard chorusing that cheer, and the sound of ten individual feet running in their direction.

"Mother brought Father home!" called out the eldest child from the top of the steps into the well house. The boy proceeded to jump over all the steps and run straight into Sesshoumaru's legs, to which he latched himself.

"Yuudai," Kagome scolded, even as she giggled. "You didn't introduce yourself first. I raised you better than that."

"Sorry Mother," the boy said, by which time the other four children had reached them as well. "Line up and drop the disguises!" the boy instructed his younger siblings, a grin on his face as he stood to the furthest left. "I am Higurashi Yuudai, eldest son," he said, as his bum-length hair went from black to white and his floppy ears, as well as the marks on his wrists, appeared to view, his golden eyes lit up with joy. The ones on his ankles were hidden by his socks, but his arms were bared by his T-shirt.

"I am Higurashi Kiyomi, the second child only daughter," said the girl next to him.

"Higurashi Takashi, third child and second son," said the next boy.

"Akihiko and Hideaki, last born and twins!" the last two chorused together.

"The one with his mark on the left of his neck is Akihiko, the one with it on the right of his neck is Hideaki, just until you can tell them apart some other way," Kagome said. "Sesshoumaru, meet your, _our_ children."

"Our children," he said, staring at the five children, all with white hair and floppy ears and stripes at their wrists and golden eyes. Then he turned to Kagome. "How?" he asked.

Kagome blushed. "Um, well, in this era, it's possible to plant donated sperm directly into the womb of a woman, and then the child can be cut out instead of having to be pushed out. I, er, saw you one day, at the well. You were, ah, _preoccupied_, I don't think you even noticed me at all, but you said my name and I had a clean jar, so when you, er, released, I caught it and brought it here and it was kept frozen until I was ready for children. So, there you go. Virgin birth," she offered, then tried to smile at her joke even though she felt like she might pass out from all the blood being in her face and _nowhere_ else. "Since, you know, I _have_ to be a virgin."

One of the twins stepped out of the line and tugged on Sesshoumaru's hakama.

"Are you going to stay with us Father?" the little one asked.

Sesshoumaru knelt down, and Kagome's heart melted just at that one action, and he looked the child in the eye. "Yes," he said. "If I had known you were all here waiting for me, I would have come sooner."

Kagome smiled and draped an arm around Sesshoumaru's shoulders, careful of the spiked pauldron, and gestured for her children to come and have a hug. They were all together at last.

"So, if this Sesshoumaru were to want more children with you Kagome, what would be done?" he asked as they followed the brood back to the house. "Because this Sesshoumaru is very aware of having missed the first years of all his children."

Kagome smiled through her blush. "You release into a jar and we go to a clinic down the road, then wait nine months and we'll have a baby. Possibly two. I didn't really expect twins the last time. But before you go wishing for more, get to know these five first," she instructed firmly.

Sesshoumaru smiled. "This Sesshoumaru is certain that he will enjoy that task very much," he said.

"I'll get out the photo albums after they've been put to bed if you like," Kagome offered, forgetting for a moment that Sesshoumaru probably didn't understand the concept of photography. "Really, the first two years are the smelliest, so I think it's better that you missed them."

"Father, will you play with us?" Takashi called from ahead.

Sesshoumaru smiled at his son and stepped away from Kagome to reach him. "You will have to educated your father in what games you like to play," he said.

Kagome beamed. That sounded like he was taking the first step to being less formal in his speech with his family. She'd have to give him a kiss later.

Terminally virgin she may be, and sex-shy still even after four births, but Kagome was still a girl and a romantic at heart, and really, she _did_ care for the father of her children, even if not in completely the same way he cared for her. They'd work it out, she was sure.

"Jaken Ball!" Kiyomi declared, bringing out the ball that had been painted by Kagome to look like the imp she remembered.

Sesshoumaru's smile got a little wider. "And how is Jaken Ball played?" he asked.

"We stand in a circle and kick it to each other, keeping it off the ground and not letting it out of the circle, but it can go as high as we like. We're not allowed to touch it with our hands or move from the circle. If it touches the ground, then whoever kicked it last is out. We keep going until we have a winner," Yuudai explained.

"Or Mother calls us in for dinner," Kiyomi added. "We're getting really good at Jaken Ball, so sometimes that's the only way the game ends!" This was said with a proud smile.

"Is this the only game you play?" Sesshoumaru asked.

The kids all shook their heads. "Of course not Father!" they chorused.

"It's just the one that's both really fun _and_ really easy. Even Aki and Hide are getting good at it now," Takashi supplied.

"Even I can play Jaken Ball," Kagome said happily, joining them. "How about this, we'll have _one_ round of Jaken Ball now, and then we'll get cleaned up for dinner. Alright? After dinner, I want to check your homework, and I'm sure your father would like to see what you have been practising before you have to go to bed."

"Yay!"

Half an hour later as they trooped into the house, Sesshoumaru's verdict was in: "This one likes Jaken Ball," he said.

Kagome smiled. "I'm glad. Come, I'll introduce you to my mother while the children wash up."

Sesshoumaru nodded and followed behind her.

~oOo~

The armour and swords were removed and hung up in one of the spare rooms in the house as a display, rather than relegated to a dusty old storage shed. The children had been tucked into their beds and kissed goodnight – by _both_ of their parents – and now Kagome was snuggled up against Sesshoumaru's side with five photo albums on the coffee table before them.

Kagome picked up the first one. It was blue and had a picture of Yuudai (without the glamour over him), taken on the very day that he was born, in the insert on the cover.

"That's how your first son came out," Kagome told him. "All brand new in the world and already beautiful."

She showed him the ultrasound pictures, the baby pictures, the crawl, the first steps, the teething with sharp teeth, and then the pictures started being shared with Kiyomi, and then with Takashi, and finally Akihiko and Hideaki as well.

Kagome picked up the next album, the one full of pictures of Kiyomi.

"She likes to pretend that her ears are actually her hair done up in bunches," Kagome said, pointing out a picture of Kiyomi trying to tie ribbons around her ears the very first time. The bows were different sizes and lop-sided, but it was very cute all the same.

Then the next album, full of Takashi pictures, was poured over avidly. The little boy was blatantly precocious, even in six-by-ten glossies.

Finally, the two albums of Akihiko and Hideaki were looked at side by side.

"They may be twins, but they aren't together all the time, so when one of them does something special all on their own, it shouldn't have to be put along side something that the other has done," Kagome explained, and Sesshoumaru nodded in agreement.

"Who is this man?" Sesshoumaru asked at last. "He has been in many of the pictures."

"That's my little brother," Kagome answered. She'd been wondering when he'd ask actually. "The older man is my grandfather. He passed away shortly after Aki and Hide were born. According to mother, hearing that I'd just had twins gave him a heart-attack. He held on for a couple of months, but he was old and frail already."

Sesshoumaru nodded.

Kagome, on the other hand, shook her head. "I don't know why," she said. "We'd all known for months that it was going to be twins. Perhaps just the sudden realisation that there really were _two_ of them hit him a little hard. Five children is a lot these days after all."

"It isn't nearly enough," Sesshoumaru said, holding Kagome tightly to his side. "Priestess virginity completely aside, you were _meant_ to be a mother."

Kagome smiled. "I love being a mother," she agreed, snuggling into the hold he had on her. "This is nice," she said, beginning to feel sleepy in the warm cocoon Sesshoumaru created around her. "I should probably show you to our room though."

"Our room?" Sesshoumaru asked carefully, even though he wanted little more than to stay by her side forever and always.

Kagome nodded. "Big, soft bed. We may not do the usual sorts of things other couples do there, but I see no reason why we can't sleep together, provided of course that sleeping is the only thing that happens."

Sesshoumaru nodded in agreement. "As long as I can hold you," he said, standing from the couch and helping Kagome to do so as well.

Kagome smiled. Finally, that first person singular, "I", had passed Sesshoumaru's lips. Lips she caught, just briefly, before giving him another smile. "I have no problem with that at all," she agreed.

~The End~


End file.
